Fairytales (33 page)

Tish put her arms around her mother. “I only hope that I’m your kind of a woman.”

“You bet you are.”

Tish smiled, “Mom, I love you so … and I can’t be too immature to have picked a mother like you, can I?”

“I wasn’t so dumb either … look what I got.”

Jenny knocked lightly at the open door with one hand while in the other she held a tray of lemonade and two glasses. “Interruptin’ anythin’?” she asked.

“No, Jenny, come on in,” Leticia answered.

Placing the tray down, she poured the pale yellow liquid into the glasses and handed one to her mistress and the other to
her
precious child.

“Thank you, Jenny,” Tish said. Then she noticed Jenny as she looked down at her … there were tears in her eyes. She placed the glass on the nightstand, got up and put her arms around Jenny’s shoulders. “Jenny?”

“Yes, baby?”

All she could do was embrace her.

Tish then took Jenny’s hand and led her to the other side of the bed across from Leticia, where she sat down with Jenny sitting near her. “Jenny, do you remember when you used to take me to your church some Sundays and after we’d go to Aunt May Belle’s for lunch … I’ll never forget those days or the time I slept there with you. It was James who taught me how to ride when I was five … in fact, he taught me how to drive a car.”

“That’s right and if I lived through that, I can live through anythin’… Good lawd, I just knew they’d be bringin’ you both back on a stretcher … my, my, how I always worried about your growin’ up. And here you are, all past the measles, the chicken pox, the mumps and all the other things that happen when you’re gettin’ to be a person.” She shook her head. It all happened too quickly … life all seems so slow on the way up, but lookin’ backward is only yesterday. “Well, enough of all the ramblin’. Those new relatives of ours is gonna be here for dinner before we know it and I’m not even half done. Miss Leticia, James got the flowers cut so anytime you want to make your arrangements, I got the bowls in the flower room.” Getting up, she said, “Drink your lemonade while it’s still cold.”

After Jenny left, Tish said, “I’m just filled with all sorts of wonderful memories today.”

That’s what it’s all about … life … we have to first live it so that we can have the gift of that moment forever.” Getting up, she said, “Now, darling, I’ve got a lot of little things to do.”

On her way out, Tish said, “Mom… ?”

Leticia turned around, “Yes …?”

“You’re terrific.”

Leticia laughed, “Ha … that’s the understatement of the year.”

Leticia Stevens had a very disturbing effect upon Catherine … she found it impossible to sleep after being at her home for dinner earlier last evening. It was four o’clock in the morning and she had not shut her eyes. She struggled with the idea that Leticia was everything she was not. There was a graciousness that was inherent in Leticia that she resented, making her feel inadequate … depressed. Catherine wrestled with the whys of what made her what she was. My, she was just all full of conflicting questions in the wee hours of this morning. Getting out of bed, she went quickly into the sitting room so as not to disturb Dominic, who slept so soundly in the twin bed separated from her by the nightstand. She wouldn’t for the world allow him to guess she was upset … or why. Look at him, sleeping without a care … Why was it that Andrew Stevens hadn’t made Dominic feel inferior? Imagine … Andrew, whose heritage had been guaranteed from birth … One had been born into elegant gentry, while the other had pulled himself up by the boot strings and found a place he belonged in … he’s achieved his goals and was exactly where Andrew was—accepted. Apparently, one’s origins weren’t nearly as important any longer in the scheme of things as Catherine had once imagined. The world had changed since she was a young girl growing up… When family, the right kind, made all the difference. There was a time when Dr. Stevens would have never acknowledged Dominic as an equal… but from the way they had responded to one another, one would have believed they both had come on the scene from the same social class. My, oh my, how things had changed. Catherine was slowly having to realize the south was no longer the same … it had happened one day when that black girl refused to sit at the back of the bus. There were no more wops, were there? No more niggers? People became a little more cautious about saying things out loud. The signs that once had read “White” … “Black” were all gone. The world had changed and she hadn’t even been aware of it. Where had she been while it was all taking place? Where? Totally involved with her children … her home. Where was she when Dominic got away from her and found himself in the arms of Victoria Lang? The thought had come into her mind painfully … but quickly she turned the pages of memory to Leticia. This evening had been devastating for Catherine. No one could possibly have guessed how ill-at-ease she was sitting at that lady’s table, watching her … it was all so elegant, but with a simplicity. The china, the crystal, the silver, the monogrammed linen … all handed down from generations. You couldn’t buy that, could you? No money in the world bought one that kind of inner composure. After dinner while all the men retired to the library to discuss politics (knowing Dominic she was sure that would be the topic of conversation), the ladies sat amid the quiet elegance of the dimly-lit drawing room, talking about the wedding. Then Catherine’s eyes wandered to the picture album sitting on the large table. She got up and ran her hand over the lush, deep red velvet cover and read the brass plaque attached.

“Tish, may I see this?” she asked, forcing a smile.

“Would you like to?” Tish asked, getting up and handing it to Catherine. The two sat on the small settee and started from the beginning. Every important moment was recorded between the pages of that album … but when Catherine came to the picture of Tish’s debut with her father at her side, Catherine’s heart raced too rapidly. To all outward appearances she kept her inner composure intact, but inwardly, all the frustrations of her youth and rejection came back like a thunderbolt. No wonder Leticia and her daughter could feel the emotional security they had been privileged to in their lives … Junior League, the best schools, the best homes … the best people. Catherine’s angry jealousy was almost more than she could subdue. Quickly, she continued on with the rest of the pictures, scarcely seeing nor caring. In spite of the lavish Balenciaga gown she wore and the enormous square-cut diamond she had on her left hand, she still felt that awful feeling of inferiority. After all these years, the rebuff still burned. Oh, well, no one had everything, did they? You bet they didn’t. Soon Leticia Stevens would be left alone. Her only child would be married and living in California and what would she have? Her Junior League … president of the Garden Club … a big social lady in the community … the Gold Club? What the hell were they compared with what she had? Catherine Posata Rossi had seven children and she’d make sure she’d hold on to them … forever. Dom was definitely not going to open the law firm in Paris. She was going to make that perfectly clear to Dominic. They were her life … her Junior League … They were
hers.
Wearily, she glanced at the clock, it was five. Hidden thoughts could be exhausting. Good God, she had to get some sleep or she’d look dreadful this afternoon … and if she did nothing else, Catherine was going to make Atlanta, Georgia, and all of Leticia Stevens’
grand
friends know that Miss Tish Stevens wasn’t marrying beneath her. Yes, siree, she was going to wow them this afternoon at the luncheon Leticia was giving at the Country Club at noon to introduce her and the other Rossi ladies to high society.

The following week was a frenzy of luncheons, dinner and cocktail parties, but Leticia took it all in stride, making the most of every moment. Wedding gifts were still arriving. Last minute fittings, last minute revisions with the caterers. She arranged things for everyone; while during the day the boys swam or played tennis, Dominic and Andrew played golf at the club which was a revelation for Dominic who learned a great deal about Andrew Stevens. Over lunch, they talked about everything. Dominic was impressed by Andrew’s knowledge of politics and world affairs. He wondered when Andrew had the time to indulge in anything except his profession.

“Well, Dominic, no one can live in a vacuum … not in today’s world. I spent my best years trying to save lives because I think there’s a sanctity in life. I can still remember the first World War … everybody marching off as though they were going to some kind of jousting match. Until we began to hear about this one’s son, or somebody’s husband getting killed, war was a remote thing … we still lived in a world of innocence.” He took a sip of water. “I remember as a small boy, somebody died and everyone in the neighborhood talked about it in solemn whispers … ‘You know, John died.’ It was very sad, someone dying. Then we had the second World War and we still felt pretty bad about young men dying, but it was in a damn good cause … we understood the reasons so it didn’t seem so tragic … then all of a sudden, we had a little thing called Korea … of course, that wasn’t a war at all, just a police action … well, what the hell, in a police action if some young kid gets shot up, it’s not the same as if it was a war, so we didn’t pay much attention to it. Then we get Vietnam. Congress never said we should be there, but every night we sat glued to our televisions and saw young men slaughtered by the thousands. Life becomes so unimportant, so expendable … so cheap. You wonder why the so-called younger generation didn’t think much of what we fed them? Why they thought it was okay—even moral—”

“You’re right, Andrew, but how the hell do you legislate conscience … morality … respect for life when you’re dealing with human nature … men who only give a damn about getting elected.”

“That’s right … get elected at any cost. But unfortunately some of those costs are human lives and that’s what I think the kids have been complaining about.”

While Andrew spoke, Dominic thought about his sons. Dominic greatly admired Andrew, but Andrew was an idealist … Dominic was not. He was tough, but if he hadn’t been tough his sons would be among the boys Andrew was now talking about. You bet it was heartbreaking to get that letter in the mail … “We regret to inform you that your son is missing in action.” Well, he was damned happy that his sons weren’t going to face that. It was the underprivileged … the Blacks … who mostly were taken. He’d move heaven and earth to spare his sons. Damned right, I’m patriotic, but I’m a father.

L
ETICIA WAS A WOMAN
of enormous vitality, but this Monday morning, she indulged herself since she didn’t have to see the Rossis off till four this afternoon. Having breakfast in bed was something she did only when she was ill and she hadn’t been ill since she could remember. But after the past week’s events which climaxed with yesterday’s wedding, Leticia felt she had earned the luxury of a little leisure. Taking the last drop of coffee, she set the tray aside, snuggled back into the large pillows and relived the day … and what a day it had been.

Three hundred guests sat under the striped awning in that majestic garden holding their breath as Tish walked down the red carpeted aisle on the arm of her father toward the flower arbor where a nervous Dom waited with his brother, Tory, as best man. At that precise moment, Andrew Stevens was feeling the pangs of fatherhood … relinquishing his daughter into the care and protection of another man … a feeling he was not comfortable with. The thought that she would never be completely his again bothered him much more than he was willing to admit to himself. Suddenly his misgivings about Tish’s marriage gave way to a flood of doubts. He set them aside when he glanced at the radiant young eager face beside him. There was that unmistakable look of love in Tish’s violet eyes, velvet, shimmering … a look that made Andrew realize how unimportant he was. Slowly, they approached the white, satin-covered altar where he placed Tish’s hand in Dom’s, then looked searchingly at both of them, swallowed back the lump in his throat, kissed her gently on the cheek and took his place alongside of Leticia and held her hand. The gesture was more to comfort himself, thinking now there would be the two of them … but suddenly, his fears were dispelled as he saw his child kneeling alongside this handsome young man with whom she would spend the rest of her life. Yes … it all seemed so right when Dom reverently kissed Tish as they were pronounced man and wife after a solemn ceremony performed by Father Daini. A kiss of tender devotion as a promise of all their years to come. For a moment, they looked into each other’s eyes, a look so tender, so poignant that it brought tears Leticia could no longer hold back.

When the sounds of music were heard, a smiling Tish, dressed in exquisite white organza and delicate reembroidered lace encrusted with seed pearls, walked back up the aisle, now on the arm of her husband whose face needed no interpretation. He could see nothing but his wife … My God, she was beautiful, in the veil that had belonged to her grandmother, so carefully stored away through all these years, and the Juliet cap framing her fragile face, making her look almost ethereal. Vaguely, as he heard the whispering sounds … she’s positively magnificent … I’ve never seen anything so gorgeous … he felt the impulse to say out loud … she’s mine.

The bridal entourage of ushers (the twins, Bobby, Vincente and two of Dom’s best friends from Harvard) followed behind, walking beside the bridesmaids (the most excited of all was Gina Maria who had been the maid of honor) dressed in soft, tea rose yellow. They’d finally taken their places in the receiving line and were now awaiting the families. Catherine, dressed in printed, flowing chiffon, extravagantly wearing her diamond and emerald jewels (which shimmered dazzlingly in the sun), followed with Dominic’s arm on hers. Smiling broadly for all to see, she looked at his proud and happy face, thinking, I’ve beat you, Victoria Lang … you bet. Although her mother walked behind her, knowing looks of ‘I told you so’ were unnecessary, Mama’s thoughts and hers, at this moment, were one. Leticia, dressed in an elegantly simple blue Christian Dior, the same color as her eyes, held Andrew’s arm as she laughed softly, acknowledging the smiles of her friends. From that moment on, events moved so swiftly Leticia had difficulty trying to remember them all. First, there was the reception line which seemed to go on endlessly. Then the picture taking… first, the bride and groom … then the newlyweds with each set of parents … the grandmothers with Catherine and Dominic … Catherine and Dominic and the two of them … She could still hear the popping of champagne corks. How exquisite the buffet table was … the flowers and, of course, the wedding cake … how many tiers? Five … six? Well, no matter, what mattered was the way Dom held Tish’s hand when they took the wedding knife and made the first cut. She remembered dancing with Andrew and Dom and Dominic and all those fabulous Rossi boys … Catherine was to be complimented … she had certainly done a job, by George … gentlemen, all of them. She had a right to feel proud. And that daughter, Gina Maria … so unspoiled, so lovely, so precious. It took a lot of doing to accomplish that and Leticia could feel nothing but admiration.